


How Marcus is to Khan what Kodos is to Kirk

by Cerridwen



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Inspired by Music, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-25
Updated: 2016-04-25
Packaged: 2018-06-04 09:22:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6652174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cerridwen/pseuds/Cerridwen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In looking at the characters of Khan Noonien Singh and James Kirk I’ve come to realise that the enemies that have had the most impact on them, that have shaped them the most are as similar in their own ways as Khan and Kirk are.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How Marcus is to Khan what Kodos is to Kirk

I’ve said in previous metas that Khan and Kirk are very similar. But in looking at the characters of these two men I’ve come to realise that the enemies that have had the most impact on them, that have shaped them the most are as similar in their own ways as Khan and Kirk are.

The enemy for Khan in the reboot timeline is Admiral Marcus. But the enemy that left the most enduring effect on Kirk was not Nero but rather Kodos the Executioner. I know that Kodos hasn’t made his appearance this timeline yet, not even in the comics but I don’t think that his existence or the effect that he had on Kirk’s life can be denied. For while Nero’s actions did have a profound effect on Kirk’s life the man himself did not. George Kirk could have been killed by Orion Pirates or the Klingons and the effect on Kirk’s life would have been the same. Spock Prime and Nero changed the timeline but after George Kirk’s death Nero played absolutely no part in Kirk’s life. We don’t know what effect the changes to the timeline will have had on Kodos but even in the original, much brighter and benign timeline the actions and motivations between Kodos and Marcus are strikingly similar.

Let’s start with Kodos. He was the Governor of the colony of Tarsus IV until he led a military coup and overthrew the elected government to make himself absolute dictator. He did this in response to a very real threat. A fungus had wiped out most of the food supply and the colony was in danger of starvation. So in order to save those members of the colony that he deemed worthy of survival Kodos ordered the murder of half of the colony. 4000 people were massacred down to the smallest child because Kodos saw them as a threat to be eliminated. In “The Conscience of the King” episode the death warrant read:

          _“The revolution was successful. But survival depends on drastic measures. Your continued existence represents a threat to the well-being of society. Your lives mean slow death to the more valued members of the colony. Therefore, I have no alternative but to sentence you to death. Your execution is so ordered, signed Kodos, Governor of Tarsus IV”_

It is important to note that Kodos did actually believe that what he did was for the greater good, to protect his colony from destruction. He said as much to Kirk.

          _“If the supply ships hadn’t come earlier than expected, this Kodos of yours might have gone down in history as a great hero.”_

Kirk’s reaction to this is very telling.

_“If I had gotten everything I wanted, you might not walk out of this room alive.”_

And this was in the original timeline, not the reboot one. Just from the movie itself we know that Kirk’s childhood was a lot harsher and more brutal then in the original one. He was half orphaned at birth and according to the car scene at the beginning of the first movie his mother was off planet (a lot if the [deleted scene ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38M_Rw_Lx10%20)with his brother is anything to go by) and he was left in the care of someone who was abusive.

The age of Kirk at this moment looks to be around 11, the same age when he was sent to Tarsus IV in the original timeline. There is nothing in canon to tell us why or how Kirk was sent to Tarsus IV but in the reboot timeline it is likely that he was sent there as part of a juvenile delinquency program, probably due to the incident with the car.

We also know that Kirk has at least one known allergy, the vaccine to the infection caused by Melvaren mud fleas and he was born 3 months premature. Add the facts of his age, his juvenile delinquency and what Kodos (who was a supporter of the Eugenics theory) would have labeled as his physical defectiveness and the odds are against him being on Kodos’ “allowed to live” list, the son of a dead Starfleet hero or not.

We can see the effect of his childhood in Chris Pine’s [opening scene ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEvKu0SCNJU)as Kirk in the first movie. He takes on four men single-handedly in a drunken bar brawl and gets his ass handed to him. Granted the cadets were looking for a fight and threw the first punch, but Jim intentionally goaded them and he wasn’t so drunk that he didn’t know what he was doing. This behaviour isn’t the same cocky, arrogant behaviour that we see from Kirk later in the movie. This behaviour is self-destructive and full of self-hatred as Kirk shows in his conversation with Pike.

[In this scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caUo3FQkRPM) we see that Kirk is belligerent and trying to goad Pike into thinking that Kirk’s just another drunken bum by calling “Can I get another one?” when Pike is trying to recruit him. But at the same time he’s using it as a shield, daring and goading Pike to prove that he’s just like everyone else Kirk’s met. Someone who won’t look past the surface and will walk away, believing the image that Kirk is projecting. When Pike proves that he’s smarter than that by telling him that he’s looked up Kirk’s file and knows how smart Kirk is, Kirk’s response is revealing on two levels.

The first is the challenge to Pike’s claim to know him.

 _“Maybe I love it.”_ is another way of saying “Don’t think you know me.”

The second is the level of self-hatred evident in his response to Pike’s offer of enlistment.

_"You must be way down on your recruiting list."_

He thinks that he is that no-good, repeat offender that no one should want.

Put all this together and we get a picture of Kirk that any psychologist or therapist would probably quite easily diagnose as PTSD and survivor’s guilt.

Now as I mentioned earlier it is not yet officially canon in this reboot timeline that Kirk was sent to Tarsus IV, however it seems likely that he was due to both the parallels between the two timelines that we’ve seen so far and the extreme changes in Kirk’s character. As Chris Pine said himself about his character in an [interview](http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/chris-pine-discusses-taking-finest-hours-boston-accent-36589920):

_"Kirk who has a lot of swagger and arrogance is obviously covering for something. Cause a big dog doesn't have to bark so loudly."_

This Kirk is also much more reckless and more contemptuous of the rules and authority. This is proven in the next movie when Kirk lies on his report to cover the fact that he shattered the Prime Directive in order to save Spock. It also shows that the James Kirk in this timeline has a much more pronounced need to protect and avenge his own. The Kirk of the original timeline would have regarded sneaking into Qo’nos as the case of _last_ resort if an intergalactic war would be the price of discovery, not the first. Granted the Kirk in the reboot timeline is less experienced when it comes to command but also his rage and his fear of loss is much closer to the surface. Upon losing the closest thing he has ever known to a father Kirk’s first reaction is to kill the man responsible. It’s only Spock’s influence that calmed him down enough for Kirk to listen to his honour again. But even that didn’t last when weighed against the lives of Kirk’s crew. When Marcus had the Enterprise crippled Kirk was willing to give not only Khan but also Khan's entire crew over to Marcus in order to buy the lives of his own.

_“Sir, my crew was just following my orders . . . If I transmit Khan’s location to you now; all that I ask is that you spare them.”_

Like Khan the Kirk of the reboot timeline would do anything for his crew; lie, kill, betray, sacrifice everything even his own honour to protect his crew. The Jim Kirk of this timeline has suffered wounds that are both much deeper and closer to the surface then the Kirk of the original timeline. His greatest fear is the death of his loved ones and those under his protection. This fear is far greater than the loss of one parent and the neglect of the other would account for. It is not the sort of fear that is born of being under the control of an abusive guardian such as “Uncle” Frank, or being abandoned by his older brother. That kind of abuse leads to its survivors pushing people away. This fear of Kirk’s is born only from terrible loss, from watching those under his protection die, while he watched on, helpless to save them. And if the similarities between these two timelines holds true but with the reboot timeline being much darker then there is only one place where Kirk could have experienced this; Tarsus IV. And only one man could have taught him this fear; Kodos the Executioner.

Now let’s look at Alexander Marcus. When we meet him he is already the head of Starfleet and thus its military leader. But he is acting against the will of the Federation and without the knowledge or consent of its elected leaders by trying to start a war with the Klingon Empire.

Just like Kodos Marcus truly believed that everything he was doing was for the greater good. He enslaved Khan (and as I’ve said in [previous metas ](http://khantoelessar.tumblr.com/post/139396762170/headcanon-theory-on-what-happened-to-khans-crew)he probably killed at least some of Khan’s crew in order to bring Khan to his knees) and then attempted the genocide of Khan’s race, as well as to destroy the Enterprise, all to cover up his crime and start a war with the Klingons.

Now compare Marcus’ speech with Kodos’ execution order.

_"Captain Kirk, without authorization and in league with the fugitive John Harrison you went rogue in enemy territory, leaving me no choice but to hunt you down and destroy you."_

The similarities go far beyond that of the formality of the language. Both claim that the ones they are about to kill present a threat to society that must be eliminated, both offer the excuse that they have no choice.

Like Kodos Marcus truly believed or at least had convinced himself that he alone could take the necessary actions needed to save society.

_"War is coming and who's going to lead us? You?! If I'm not in charge our entire way of life is decimated."_

Like Kodos Marcus was willing to betray and kill his own people, not only to accomplish his “greater good” but also to protect himself. We are told near the start of “Conscience of the King” that a burned body was found that was assumed to be Kodos. Whoever that body had originally been, whether Kodos had killed him to hide his tracks or not, one thing is certain. Kodos was not willing to be held responsible for his actions any more than Marcus was and in the balance of probability was just as willing to kill to avoid it.

The effect that Marcus had on Khan, the wounds that he inflicted on him are as deep and as telling as the ones Kodos inflicted on Kirk.

The Khan we meet in Space Seed is an exiled Prince, arrogant and wary of trusting, especially after Kirk refuses to wake the rest of his crew which is why he evades Kirk’s questions about his past without directly lying.

In the original timeline he tells Kirk “I have never been afraid.” The reboot Khan is filled with fear, desperation, and a rage that the Khan in Space Seed didn’t have (at least not until the Wrath of Khan and I’m not delving into that here because that Khan was completely insane after spending 20 years on Ceti Alpha V and due to the changes in the timeline this most likely won’t occur).

It is interesting to note that the writers of Into Darkness have almost completely reversed Khan and Kirk’s roles. In the original timeline Kirk saved Khan by getting him out of his cryotube when it started to malfunction (due to Kirk and the others boarding the Botany Bay). In the reboot timeline Khan saved Kirk twice and Spock and Uhura once. In the original timeline Khan tells Marla that he’s going to take over the ship after that disaster of a dinner party. The reboot Khan had multiple chances to dispose of Kirk and Scotty on the way to the bridge of the Vengeance and not only doesn’t take it but blatantly pauses once the bridge has been won, refusing to strike first against the man who has spared his crew even though his enemy Marcus is right in front of him.

This directly contradicts what Spock Prime from the original timeline tells his younger counterpart the original Khan would do.

It is only after Kirk betrays him that Khan erupts into a rage and we can begin to see the effect that a year of slavery under Marcus has had on him.

And again the reboot is a reversal of the original timeline. In the original Kirk beats Khan in their fight. In the reboot timeline Khan beats on Kirk without breaking a sweat. And yet for all Khan’s obvious fury and rage at Kirk’s betrayal he still spares his life and it wasn’t because of his value as a hostage. If that was all it was the Admiral Marcus was far more valuable to both Starfleet and the Federation if not to Spock then Kirk was. For that matter he could have crippled Kirk as he did Carol Marcus.

It is when Khan turns on Alexander Marcus that we can get a glimpse of the depth of the wounds to Khan’s mind and spirit that have been inflicted upon him in this timeline.

There are no boasts about his superior strength, no predictions that Marcus had no chance the way the original Khan did with Kirk in their fight. There is only a fierce need for bloody retribution and the warning “You should have let me sleep!”

The least of those wounds would have been the loss of Khan’s pride. We have already seen him throw that pride away in the brig when he turns to Kirk and Spock with his face wet with tears and asks:

_"Is there anything you would not do for your family?"_

Not only that but after surrendering unconditionally on Qo’nos he just stood there and let Kirk beat on him without lifting so much as a finger in defence. His only response at the end of it was a chiding _“Captain.”_

The final piece of evidence comes after Spock has detonated the torpedoes, making Khan think that he had just witnessed the murder of his entire family and the genocide of the last of his race and at the hands of someone whose life he had saved. (If Khan was seriously trying to destroy the Enterprise then he suddenly became the worst shot in the entire galaxy because he completely failed to hit not only the life support as he threatened to but also the main command bridge which Marcus targeted).

At this point Khan not only had nothing left to live for, he had nothing left to lose either. Even if he could have surrendered (and with the Vengeance caught in Earth’s gravity and going down just as much as the Enterprise was that wasn’t likely), it would have meant turning himself back over to the same people who had enslaved him once before.

To be blunt, Khan lost it. After everything he had endured, slavery under Marcus, the pain of losing his crew, the joy of discovering they were still alive, the hope that Kirk had given him when he spared his crew and lied to Marcus to protect him, the pain of Kirk’s betrayal, the relief of believing that he finally had his crew safe only to suffer again the agony of watching them die right in front of him, Khan quite simply snapped.

This is as close as he comes to the original timeline’s Khan in Wrath of Khan. That Khan sacrificed his crew for revenge when he armed the Genesis torpedo. The Khan of the reboot timeline aimed an already crashing ship at Starfleet headquarters only after he believed his crew had all been murdered and even then he didn’t arm the Vengeance’s warp core to detonate on impact thereby destroying everyone as the Khan in the original timeline did.

We saw what happened when a constellation class starship detonates its warp core in the first movie when Scotty launched and detonated the Enterprises warp core into the black hole that had consumed the Narada. That explosion _inside a black hole_ no less was so powerful that it not only blew the Enterprise out of the singularity but it total dwarfed the ship.

Thus we can see the profound effect that the wounds Marcus inflicted on him had on Khan. For his crew he would sacrifice anything, his pride, his honour, his life. He would endure anything, slavery, torture, any degradation or humiliation to protect them. Yet he still valued mercy and compassion as shown by the multiple times he saved or spared Kirk, Spock and innocent bystanders until the end.

Marcus and Kodos, two men who are as much alike as Khan and Kirk are. It is these two who are the shadows who define their light, the demons who forged them into the men they are now. Wounded warriors who fear only the loss of their loved ones and who would go to any means to keep that from happening.

**Author's Note:**

> You can now follow me on tumblr at http://www.khantoelessar.tumblr.com


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